Lost Communication
by Zanthra Shard
Summary: Late season 3. Selmak arrives unplanned at the SGC, convinced something is wrong with Jacob.


Stargate SG-1 is not owned by me, nor are any of the characters. The dialogue, events, and text of this story however is.

****

The words "Unscheduled Offworld Activation" were far too common, and usually important. Samantha Carter got up from her lab table and headed for the Control room. She got there just in time to see the gate activate behind the metal iris. General Hammond was already there, impressing Sam once again with his unwavering dedication to deal with each crisis without getting overconfident in his teams abilities to get by with lucky breaks.

Finally the words they had been waiting for, "I am getting an IDC sir. It's Jacob."

Sam felt her emotions change instantly. The concern was gone, this was not a Goa'uld attack, or another ultimatum, and in its place was an excitement and a little apprehension; Jacob did not come to the SGC to say hi. She was already headed down the stairs when she heard Jack enter the control room and ask, "So how long until something blows up sir?"

By the time Sam got to the gate room, the iris had been opened, and her father was stepping out through the gate. It was obvious at first glance that something was wrong, his eyes were hard, and his body was trembling slightly. The gate closed shortly behind him.

"Dad?" Sam asked, approaching him.

It was not her father who responded however, but rather the deep voice of Selmak, "Sam, I am sorry, but I think there is something wrong with Jacob."

All her scientific knowledge did not prepare her for understanding that statement. She quickly tried to separate Selmak and her father in her mind. "What do you mean?"

By this time Jack had entered the gateroom, and Hammond was talking to one of the SFs at the door.

Selmak looked down slightly, "We were captured, and our captors knocked us out. When I woke up, I could not feel Jacob's feelings, but he started to panic and fight me. One of their doctors saw us awake and tried to sedate us again, but I managed to take him down and escape." He paused for a moment, fear evident despite his attempt to conceal it , "He is still fighting me, but I am afraid of what he might do if I let him take over. There are stitches at the top of our neck; they could have done anything to him."

"Why come here," Jack asked.

"The Tok'ra are not skilled doctors, we rely on the Symbiotes to heal diseases and wounds, I don't know what the Tok'ra would do to Jacob if they could not help him."

"Can I talk to my dad?" Sam asked. "We may be able to calm him down."

Selmak nodded, "Be ready to restrain him if you have to."

Selmak's head dropped then came up quickly. Jacob started talking, "Selmak said it was me, but something is wrong with him. He is hiding stuff from me, and he… He has never taken over like that before."

Janet came in just then, and seemed to take everything over. Jacob did not get a chance to continue before Janet began asking questions. "What happened?" "What's wrong?" "Has this happened before?" "How long ago did it start?" Sam didn't understand how those would help her take care of her dad, but she was not about to get in Janet's way.

****

Selmak was in control again. He was lying in a bed in the SGC infirmary. After she had finished asking Jacob questions, many of which had tried Selmak's sense of self control to not take over and say 'no that's not why I was doing that', she had asked to speak with Selmak again. Just before Selmak had taken control again he had asked Janet to restrain him so that Selmak could not do something that Jacob did not want. Strangely Selmak had half a mind to request the same thing, so that he did not have to worry when he let Jacob have control again.

Selmak thought again about the answers that Jacob had given to Janet, they were the same answers that he would have given. Jacob could not feel Selmak's feelings or thoughts any more than Selmak could feel Jacob's. Both were concerned that the other had something done to them while captured, and both were very concerned for the other's well being.

The thought made Selmak pause, what if here were wrong and Jacob was right? What if it was him who was sick? If so then Jacob had every right to be scared of him, and bothered by the fact that he had asserted control, and not yielded when he fought. How would he have known though?

He relinquished control, the silence without Jacob's thoughts was deafening, but he could feel Jacob shift in recognition of the control. Jacob looked over towards where Sam was sitting on a chair; she had followed them to the infirmary, but tried to stay out of the way.

"Sam," Jacob called.

"Dad?" She asked. "You alright?"

"Yeah," he paused a moment. The tension in Jacobs body indicated this was more than just catching up. Jacob continued, "Maybe. I was just thinking, what if Selmak was right, and it was me who those monsters messed with? What if he really did know it was me who was sick?"

"I don't know," Sam said, holding their hand. "Janet is almost ready to do an MRI for you, and once they finish that we should know what they did."

Jacob was silent for a few more seconds, and then said, "I wish I could tell him I'm sorry."

Sam smiled and said, "He probably hears you."

They sat there quietly for a moment, then Sam spoke again, "You know MRI was based on NMR, or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, but people were so scared of the term Nuclear at the time that they dropped the Nuclear?"

Selmak felt Jacob laugh, and Jacob responded, "When was that, the sixties?"

"Actually the seventies, but people were still afraid of ionizing radiation, and doctors did not want patients avoiding it when it had nothing to do with that."

****

Jacob looked carefully at the computer screen, trying to understand what Janet was indicating.

"The three neuronal tethers that the Symbiote uses to join to the hosts mind have been cut," she was explaining. Despite the resolution and quality, it was hard for Jacob to understand what the grayscale image could tell her.

"What was affecting Selmak's mind then?" he asked.

"Nothing," Janet responded. "And nothing was affecting yours either. It was the lack of the ability to communicate that caused the problems."

Jacob thought back. She could be right, both he and Selmak had done nothing but what they would have done before. Jacob began to feel ashamed of blaming this mess on Selmak. "How long until they grow back?"

He felt Selmak take control for a second, then release it, as if asking permission. Jacob lowered his head, hoping that Selmak would understand. Selmak took control and spoke, "They will not grow back. While I can help a host in healing, there is no way the host can help me to heal."

Jacob was horrified. What now? If he could not talk with Selmak it would be a nightmare trying to get anything done. He felt just as sorry for Selmak though. While Jacob could function as an individual, Selmak had to have a host, and if the connections would not grow back then any host he could take would be unable to talk with him.

"What are we going to do then," Janet asked.

"I am thinking. The best idea might be to send me back to the To'kra, although they might not be too happy about it."

Sam piped in, "What will they do to my dad there?"

Selmak inclined his head slightly, "I don't mean with your father. I will leave his body and you will return me alone if it comes to that."

Jacob thought, there had to be another way. What would the Tok'ra do with an unmeldable symbiote? Then it hit him. He fought Selmak's control for a moment, and then stopped. Selmak relinquished it to him almost immediately.

"I have an idea. Sam, get me a hand healing device, and ask Selmak to leave my body."

He felt Selmak take control, a disconcerting thing to have happen only a moment after taking control. Selmak said, "That might just work, the healing deices are designed to be species independent, it may work on me."

Jacob found himself in control again as Sam left to find her device. "Okay, this is weird."

It took a few moments before Janet was ready for Selmak to come out. She sprayed an antiseptic solution onto the back of Jacob's throat, and had him lie on his side to prevent any blood from being aspirated. If this did not work Jacob would have to fight any infection on his own.

With little sound, the Symbiote separated itself from its host, squirming out through Jacob's mouth. Everyone took a hesitant step back from the creature that looked identical to the ones with which they waged daily war.

Janet used a tongue depresser and a flashlight to look at the back of Jacob's throat, to confirm that the wound was minimal, while Sam moved Selmak to a table with extreme caution. Jacob watched wondering if Selmak realized how much Sam was afraid of him when he was outside of Jacob.

Finally the pain dulled, and he sat up, taking the hand device. "I have only done this with humans, so here goes."

It took several minutes to get the thing working properly, but finally he was able to see the damage, and through the device he began to repair it. Nervous system rebuilt itself along the ridges that linked to the brain. Finally after a half an hour, his neck throbbing, and exhaustion setting in, he finally was done.

"It's finished. The tendrils are repaired," Jacob said.

Before Janet could object to the hasty remerging, Jacob opened his mouth and Selmak leapt into it. In a mere moment Selmak's memories, feelings and emotions flooded his mind, and it was clear that relief washed over both of them.

Jacob's face lit up in a huge grin, and he said, "We are back."

****

It was two days later now. Jacob and Selmak were staying here at the SGC until they returned to normal. Selmak had explained that remerging was was not like plugging something in. The connections were always in a different place the next time, and it took a few days to readjust before everything was back to normal. In that time Jacob and Selmak had forgiven each other.

Sam entered the cafeteria while they were sitting there and approached them. They were alone and quiet.

"So what are you two talking about?" Sam asked with a smile on her face.

"Actually, the damage compensation system on the FA-22 Raptor," Jacob said.

It was Sam's turn to laugh. "Yeah, that would make good dinner talk. You never did tell us why and how you got captured."

Jacob sighed, "We were trying to trade information on a planet that had a problem with the Goa'uld, we didn't think they knew we were Tok'ra, but we did know they were working on extraction techniques. We were not careful enough, and they must have discovered us. They may have thought that since Selmak was a Tok'ra he would not kill me if their techniques failed, or they didn't care, but they never finished before the sedative wore off."

Jacob put his head in his hands, then continued, "It's scary how quickly we both came to not trusting each other when we could not communicate. We have each other's memories, so it's clear why we did what we did, and we both realize that the other was right. What personally scares me however is that It's Selmak's decision in the end. Most of the Tok'ra hosts are used to that, they eagerly trade that freedom for the ability to fight the Goa'uld. I am different, and Selmak respects that, but neither of us can fight our nature and his is to be able to have control if he wants it."

Sam looked like she might say something, then stopped again.

Jacob continued again, "I'm sorry you don't really understand. Selmak is probably going to brood over this for days, even though it is not his fault, or mine. Rather it's just a side effect of our friendship."

Sam nodded, and then spoke, "I did come to tell you that Janet said you can leave whenever you are ready, just give us a few hours notice."

"I'll be leaving as soon as possible then."

Sam looked at him again, "I'll miss you."

"Me too," Jacob told her. A moment later he added, "Selmak will too."


End file.
